I had to cut a lot, including Blitzer’s repeated assertions that CNN didn’t show the moment where the bullet went in, as though lead piercing skin and not the network’s intent in running the segment was the objectionable element here. In any case, they did show the soldier wounded (dying?) and slumped forward. See for yourself.

Update: Michael Ware, the CNN correspondent who took the video from the jihadis, has a history. Kesher Talk remembers.

CNN has chosen to disassociate itself from its host culture with the decision to show jihadi snuff porn, which is all fine and dandy, but they can’t expect those of us who have actually chosen sides in this conflict to do anything but revile them thoroughly for it.

How is that any different than showing Americans dying on 9/11 over and over and over and over and over?

This type of material is all over the Internet for any fool to see and has been for quite some time. There was no “newsworthiness” to it whatsoever. CNN merely wanted to ratchet up the “Bush has made an incredible mess in Iraq” meme just in time for November.

Blitzer is a tool. The Communist News Network (CNN) almost makes me laugh when they attempt to come off as unbiased. The fact is that the video did nothing but give Jihadies a hard-on and piss Americans off. Bravo… well done CNN.

How is that any different than showing Americans dying on 9/11 over and over and over and over and over?

really? CNN actually showed individual deaths? i think they inadvertently showed people jumping to their deaths, but they haven’t shown such images since. Besides, every time they show the planes hitting the towers, Bush’s approval ratings go up.

and it’s a very different thing entirely to have such images provided by one’s enemies.

and it’s a very different thing entirely to have such images provided by one’s enemies.

stevezilla on October 23, 2006 at 7:33 PM

How is it different Zilla? Propaganda is propaganda whoever creates it. Hope I am not misunderstanding your point, but if you mean that it’s ok when the images are provided by the enemy, well, that’s just idiotic. By the same token, we should’ve taped Tokyo Rose and rebroadcast her message each evening for the folks back home.

I’m of two views of this. First, in the end, you have to choose sides. I choose America. Press neutrality is all well and good up to a point, but you draw the line somewhere.

Were we interviewing Nazi’s during WWII in order to get the German perspective on things? Do we really need to hear “But ReichFuhrer Himmler insists that allegations that Auschwitz is being used as a “death camp” with alledged creamatoriums is absolutely untrue, and they are merely wards to help humanely treat victem of tuburculosis.” How about “Germany unequivically condemns recents Allied attacks in Normandy as “unprovoked unilateral aggression” and called for a League of Nations comdemnation.”

I don’t think so. If that is press-neutrality, forget it.

And yet, let’s face it. I fear we are pissing in the wind on this issue. What is the very best we can hope to achieve here? CNN apologizes and promises never to broadcast this sort of footage again? Wolf Blitzer may have enough attachment to the idea of American values that he may come arround, but CNN won’t. They are a multi-national corporation. CNN may cease to broadcast this in the U.S. but I guarantee that lots of foreign country markets want to see this. And CNN will give it to them. It won’t be broadcast on U.S. cable, but it will in France, and Egypt and Saudia Arabia and Inonesia, etc etc etc.

When you compare overseas versions of Time and CNN to domestic versions, sometimes you can be in for a bit of a shock.

WTF? Duncan Hunter is on CNN complaining about CNN? Heeelllo does anyone feel duped? Create a controversy then profit off of the attention? Get a brain Duncan, stay off of CNN. We have been enlisted to aid CNN’s ratings. How about moving from posting in blogs to emailing the companies that advertise on that network?

By the same token, we should’ve taped Tokyo Rose and rebroadcast her message each evening for the folks back home.

Well, shouldn’t we have, if we were truly interested in allowing the American people to understand the thinking and rationale of our so-called “enemies?” To allow them to see the truth as a whole, in its entirety, unvarnished?

If we had been interested in The Truth, rather than winning World War 2 at any and all costs, perhaps we should have.

And by the way, why did we go to war with Germany and Italy, when not one German or Italian soldier was involved in the bombing of Pearl Harbor?!

I just don’t get why showing the deaths of soldiers in Iraq makes people so angry at CNN when everyone was so willing to spout out “never forget” on 9/11 while playing supporting playing these 9/11 videos over and over again.

Either way you’re showing people dying.

Who care’s who the camera belongs to, anyway? Does that change the reality of what’s happening? Whether it’s the enemy or the ally taping it, the same thing is happeneing. Would this video have been okay if an American had taped it? And if not, then why do people love watching these 9/11 videos so much?

When you compare overseas versions of Time and CNN to domestic versions, sometimes you can be in for a bit of a shock.

I’ve noticed this too. A thought just occurred. These people always proclaim their OBJECTIVITY wrt news.
But how can “objectivity” be different in different markets?
Doesn’t this make them, every day, guilty of their very own secular humanists’ highest mortal sin – hypocricy?

But don’t our enemies celebrate the 9/11 videos as great evidence to the hell they put us through on 9/11?

Absolutely. But the 9/11 footage wasn’t taken for that express purpose, was it?

Don’t the 9/11 videos encourage our enemies just as much, if not more, than a few soldiers dying?

Well, I’m not sure there. I think most who might plan another 9/11 type plot might be a bit put off by the increase in airport security, no-fly lists, monitoring of calls by suspected jihadis, that sort of thing.

Not to mention those sorts of plots take years of training and a not-unsubstantial budget.

Any fool can pick up a rifle, though, and plink somebody in the head.

You’ll have to ask the jihadis themselves though. That’s just my guess.

For me, the difference is one of intention. The newscasters and camermen who captured 9/11 were capturing an event as it happened, and again, any aid and comfort it gives to those who wish to harm us is incidental.

The sniper film, on the other hand, was taken specifically not only to give aid and comfort, but to incite and recruit.

Blitzer is an absolute tool. It’s apparent that he is so stricken by his silly ideology that even standing in the “situation” room doesn’t provide a clue. Here’s the “situation” for you: We’re at war! Like it or not. And if you really want to believe that journalists can’t take sides then consider what would become of your illustrious career if your country fell to the likes of jihadist’s? I bet you’d have a ‘side’ to take then and it wouldn’t be to your liking.

Well, shouldn’t we have, if we were truly interested in allowing the American people to understand the thinking and rationale of our so-called “enemies?” To allow them to see the truth as a whole, in its entirety, unvarnished?

…once they begin passing pointy bullets out to GIs, the American people actually DON’T NEED TO KNOW and pass judgment. They need to hear about results, and then not all of ’em. Wars, to be won, require secrets to be kept.

Wars aren’t popularity contests, and can’t be won by a poll.

…added to which, our enemies today aren’t either “so-called” or in quotes. They’ve announced their intentions to kill us. Why not take them at their word?

The film supplied by active combattants to what they correctly surmised was a sympathetic network was nothing more or less than DEATH PORN. CNN, and those who take their part, should be ashamed. Let CNN do whatever they wish in Iraq…but “disestablish” ’em.

Imagine Sarnoff allowing his folks to broadcast Nazi propaganda! If CNN shows obvious propaganda again, consider acting against them for lending aid and comfort to the enemy.

Who care’s who the camera belongs to, anyway? Does that change the reality of what’s happening? Whether it’s the enemy or the ally taping it, the same thing is happeneing.

…except that the tape shown was a TERRORIST RECRUITING TAPE. Notice the little partisan logo up on the upper left corner of the screen? So, that means that CNN was doing the work of the organization by airing their recruiting tape.

…death porn, pure and simple.

…and, as Ms. Malkin and others have mentioned, CNN wouldn’t show the Mohammed cartoons because they didn’t want to stir the pot, so to speak. Dead cartoon = bad…dead GI = good.

Show Soldiers pictures (even their deaths) for propaganda is clearly a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

So is CNN defending the right to violate laws now ?

William Amos on October 23, 2006 at 8:11 PM

The Geneva convention is something that binds governments. Governments can’t show pictures of soldiers for propoganda because of the Geneva convention, but the Geneva convention dosen’t bind individuals or corporations.*

How is that any different than showing Americans dying on 9/11 over and over and over and over and over?

TheThink on October 23, 2006 at 7:14 PM

People jumping off a burning building is unquestionably “news” and was shown live as such.

Video of a soldier being shot while at war is not “news”. It has no informational value about current events. Who is saying to themselves “Wow! a soldier was shot today in the middle of a warzone what unexpected news!”

Michelle was just on the Factor and said “CNN WANTS us to lose this war.” Way to go Michelle! Tell it like it is! Kirsten was actually on OUR side tonight! She’s gettin’ there. As always, Michelle was right on target and looked beautiful.

Also, Glenn Beck had Robert Spencer on his show tonight (on CNN, it’s the ONLY CNN program allowed on in THIS house). Good job Glenn, ya make it so even the dumbest liberal can understand … THE MUSLIM TERRORISTS WANNA TAKE OVER THE WHOLE FREAKIN’ WORLD!

The Geneva convention is something that binds governments. Governments can’t show pictures of soldiers for propoganda because of the Geneva convention, but the Geneva convention dosen’t bind individuals or corporations.*

Plus the press can claim first amendment protection.

*Yeah, I know about Hamdan. Different issue.

EFG on October 23, 2006 at 9:15 PM

No I believe that CNN even stated that it was wrong when it showed Iraqi prisioners being taken that it was a violation of the Geneva Conventions

Al-Jazeera television aired videotape Sunday of dead and captured American soldiers, prompting the United States to accuse Iraq of violating Geneva Conventions.
The footage, reportedly shot in the town of Souq al-Shuyukh near Nasiriyah, showed four bodies in uniform lying in two rooms. At least two of the soldiers had been shot in the head.

CNN said it made an editorial decision not to air the video of the prisoners of war. NBC, CBS and ABC also agreed to a Pentagon request to hold off until families had been contacted. CBC broadcast pictures of the living PoWs and excerpts of statements they made on camera, but said it would not show the corpses.

Since this JIHADI SNUFF PORN is the only kind of ‘historical’ footage that will be allowed under the future Caliphate, CNN is just stockpiling an archive so they will have some excuse not to be axed once the imams are in complete charge.

yeah, CNN wants the democrats to win this november, so we can lose the war…they also are communists with no respect for the geneva conventions, which is in stark contrast to the Bush administration’s record of strict adherence to international law. They probably get secret memos everyday saying “provide aid and comfort to the enemy”. Thank god there are unbiased news sources such as Fox News.

Oct. 23, 2006 — It happens every year about now. “The Simpsons,” that animated money-making satire on Fox TV, airs its “Treehouse of Horror” episode to coincide with Halloween — or at least as close to the holiday as possible, given the uncertainties of the World Series.

But this year the show is scheduled to air the first week in November, two days before the midterm congressional election, and it has caused more of a stir than usual.

A synopsis helps explain why.

The segment, titled “The Day the Earth Was Stupid,” is a takeoff on Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio broadcast, “The War of The Worlds.”

In the Simpson’s version, the confusion the radio broadcast created sets the stage for an invasion by Kang and Kodos, the lime-green aliens who have appeared in every Halloween, sorry — “Treehouse Horror” special. The parallels to the U.S. occupation of Iraq are not subtle.

After the aliens destroy Springfield, home to the Simpson clan, they talk about the invasion and the occupation that will follow.

Kodos disagrees. “We had to invade. They were working on weapons of mass disintegration.”

As the two survey the smoking ruins of their town, Kang deadpans the last line of the segment. “This sure is a lot like Iraq will be.”

The show’s executive producer, Al Jean, has said he’s not sure whether that last line will be broadcast. Some of the writers apparently want it cut.

“The debate is whether people already get it, and we’re being too obvious,” he told Radaronline, insisting there was no pressure from Fox. “They didn’t have any objection to this, ” he said.
The possibility of Fox objecting is not surprising, given the politics favored by Rupert Murdoch, Fox’s corporate chairman. He’s conservative, even though he has been described lately as “drifting left.”

And, of course, there’s the timing. The episode comes on the eve of the congressional elections, and it’s been suggested that the show’s liberal writers might be piling it on, or at least trying to influence some voters.

Jean finds that laughable.

“I’d like to take credit for being adventuresome, but I think we’re expressing a viewpoint 69 percent of the country agrees with,” he says. He also points out that Simpson episodes are written and produced a year in advance.

If nothing else, the publicity surrounding the episode is bound to ensure lots of viewers. And that, after all, is the bottom line in broadcasting. Ratings. Advertising. Money. It’s something Rupert Murdoch understands very well.

CNN definitely was pro-war when it came to siding with the jihadists against Milosevic. Them and the NYT rallied the masses to accept that war which has done more to Islamicize Europe than anything in the last 500 years.

I’m not sure that they really convinced Americans that the Balkans war was a good idea. They just simply don’t show us polling data if it goes contrary to their jihad agenda.

How is that any different than showing Americans dying on 9/11 over and over and over and over and over?

TheThink on October 23, 2006 at 7:14 PM

For one, as everyone has said, the news organizations intentionally made it a point to stop showing those images for fear of… upseting us or something.

For another, those images were only shown over and over the day of, when everyone was still trying to make sense of the horror that was 9-11. And at that time, it was news.

We know soldiers are dying over there. It is not news to show one being killed, and it is especially biased for CNN to show (as was pointed out) the enemy getting away with it.

It’d be one thing if CNN showed footage of a small battle and a few of our guys happened to die. At least at that point, we’d get to see what normally happens when (to quote the song) someone’s “f-ing with a Marine”.

Instead, we’re shown a rather sad situation that shows the weakness of our soldiers without showing their strength.

On 9-11, we saw the worst attack on American soil, but we also saw real American heroes risking their lives to save others.

If news organizations only ever showed us pictures of the towers falling while neglecting the picture of the firemen with the flag or countless other pictures of American strength, I might agree that they are just showing terrorist propoganda.

But if anything, when we see 9-11, we see that America is still standing and could not stop us, even on that day.

I remember watching the movie Network in the 70s and thinking how absurd it would be to have a tv network manufacturing news. Remember the scene in the movie where the news station pays off black radicals to commit crimes? Fast forward to 2006. We have the media creating stories on their own. CNN will spend more time on Madonna’s adoption than on the conduct of the war.

Just to put things in a sort of perspective… When I’m not enjoying Michelle on Fox I watch the History Channel. We see film of American soldiers from WWI, WWII, and Vietnam being killed. I can imagine in the future people who want to know about jihadi terrorists watching footage like this. BUT to show that footage now, in this context, is agenda journalism at its worst. CNN is not being an unbiased broker.

It’s interesting that Hunter musters more outrage on this than he does over the continued death and wounding of our troops. My feeling is if your tender sensitivities are offended by this, try being the parent of a kid who get killed in Iraq.

I don’t understand how this is propaganda??? If anything, this footage makes people, and certainly our troops, more angry at the insurgents. Which of course is not the purpose of propaganda, which is supposed to present the enemy in a positive light.

It’s propaganda because of the spin. It was presented in a postive light, showing the bravery of the Jihadis.

If anything, this footage makes people, and certainly our troops, more angry at the insurgents.

That would be a rational reaction to it, however we know that most people in the world are not rational.

We are becoming a nation of morons.

We’ve been a nation of morons for a long time. The Founding Fathers knew this, which is why they setup the country the way they did. America is the mob, and mob is a bunch of stupid, reactionary, Tom Cruise obsessed, impatient, short-sighted, nitwits.

It’s propaganda because of the spin. It was presented in a postive light, showing the bravery of the Jihadis.

Really??? I sure didn’t pick that up!!!

We’ve been a nation of morons for a long time. The Founding Fathers knew this, which is why they setup the country the way they did. America is the mob, and mob is a bunch of stupid, reactionary, Tom Cruise obsessed, impatient, short-sighted, nitwits.

E L Frederick on October 24, 2006 at 10:25 AM

Except of course for thee and me….(You probably know the rest of this expression!!!)

If CNN just wants to show its viewers how violent war is then why not show ‘snuff films’ of all the reporters who have been killed in Iraq, including some being beheaded? If a serial rapist sent them footage of his victims but masked their identity, would CNN show that video as an example of how cruel his crimes are? These soldiers are trying to protect our security. The men who killed them would also kill me and my my family. I do not see any entertainment value in this propaganda video. CNN is so morally bankrupt that they can’t understand why decent people are offended by their actions. I think it is time to challenge our politicians to take a stand on this issue.

If ‘TheDrink’ didn’t notice, the people jumping out of the WTC were civilian casualties of an, as of that time, undeclared war, the ones CNN showed were military casualties of a courageous fight against the perpetrating philosophy of that undeclared war, Islamofacsism. How does THAT benefit John Q. Public?

If this video were played with the caption “This is why we must stay until the job is finished” then I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But of course we all know why CNN would play this. So that the cry babies can say this is why we must cut and run and bring our troops home so the terrorists won’t be so mean to us anymore. Again I say, if they shoot at us, retaliate in the direction of the shooter with the full of an air strike. Then maybe the locals won’t be so willing to harbor these types.